Honey is an excellent source of easily digestible sugars. It is largely composed of glucose and fructose, monosaccharides that are rapidly absorbed and metabolized by the organism. It also contains volatile components which makes it a very palatable ingredient. Honey may contain enzymes, pollen and propolis which have been recognized as having excellent health benefits.
However, the shelf-life of honey is rather limited since it will eventually (within days, weeks or months) crystallize. The crystallization of honey is not necessarily harmful, but it modifies the texture of the product to a more granulated one, which is less appealing for the consumer. In addition, during the crystallization process, water activity is increased, thereby facilitating microbial growth (such as yeast growth and/or fermentation). Further, since honey is usually packaged and stored as a liquid, it limits its application in the food industry.
Therefore, several attempts have been made to manufacture a honey product having a lower moisture content than original liquid honey. For example, unprocessed honey has been submitted to vacuum drying (refer, for example, to the abstract of JP2003304819A2, the abstract of JP02207762 as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,650, U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,582), lyophilization (U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,035), extrusion drying (U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,956), thin film drying (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,919,956, 4,536,973, 7,101,582) or even spray-drying (U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,582). However, because of the hygroscopic nature of honey, the removal of water is rather difficult and the resulting product still contains a high moisture content. For example, when untreated honey is submitted to freeze drying, it has a tendency to foam thereby limiting the amount of water that can be removed.
Because honey is supersaturated in sugars, its boiling point is much lower than a solution saturated in sugar, corn syrup or maple syrup. As such, the chemical structure changes that are induced by the exposure to heat occur more rapidly in honey than in any other sweetener or sugar-based solution. Consequently, honey has to be submitted to high temperatures for a prolonged amount of time in order to remove the water it contains. This badly affects the chemically-physical and palatable characteristics of honey. When abused by heat, the honey turns bitter and loses its typical honey flavor and physical characteristics. In order to circumvent this problem, additives have sometimes been added to the honey prior to the removal of the water.
It would be highly desirable to be provided with a honey product having a low water content as well as process for making same. The honey product would have a more prolonged shelf-life than the original liquid honey. It is preferred that the honey product possesses the distinctive taste and color of the original liquid honey.